Museum Training for the World

By Edmund Connolly, on 7 March 2014

UCL is launching a new project with the British Council to help develop and teach new methods of Museum management. The Museum Training School opened this week and is aimed at mid-career professionals who are aspiring to be emerging leaders in the museum sector.

Each course is being developed by a Course Designer who will use their expertise, networks and teaching skills to produce a very hands on and innovative programme.

Meet the Course Designers

Building local, national and international partnerships

Bill Griffiths is Head of Programmes at Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM) and has been the Project Officer for redevelopment projects at sites such as the Segedunum Roman Fort. He has expertise in both local and national partnerships, such as the many-headed Hadrian’s Wall project, as well as an ongoing international partnership with Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa.

Developing exhibitions

Jeremy Deller, English Magic, British Council.

Freda Matassa is the former Head of Collections Management at Tate and Registrar at the Royal Academy of Arts. Freda has worked with colleagues in Australia, Norway, Hungary, Romania and Egypt, and is the UK Expert Representative on the EU Collections Mobility project and for CEN Museum Standards.

Developing a schools and learning programme

This course will be created and delivered by two Course Designers, John Reeve and Bridget Mackenzie. John teaches on the Museums and Galleries in Education MA at the IOE and was previously Head of Education at the British Museum. Bridget has experience instigating innovative education programmes in arts and heritage, and has been the Head of Learning at the British Library for five years and Education officer for Tate.

Developing community engagement programmes

Helen Pike is the Public Programmer at UCL’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Helen has worked for the last 20 years in roles managing initiatives to engage new audiences and communicate objectives for a variety of arts institutions and smaller arts community projects. In addition, Helen manages Chintz Central a portable salon where conversations about museum and gallery collections are generated using creative interventions.

The Museum Training School is designed to be challenging, engaging and fun! Classes will not only be in seminar rooms, but in a myriad of different London museums and institutions, meeting staff and speakers from across the industry.

Public engagement and object based learning

If you are interested in applying for the school or would like some more information please visit our website here.

Edmund Connolly is the British Council – UCL Museum Training School Coordinator.